CHAPTER 4 — The Processor

From previous chapters you know that the major hardware components of a computer system are:

• Processor
• Main memory
• Secondary memory devices
• Input/output devices

This chapter examines the "brain" of the computer system — the processor. Then it shows how the programs you write are translated into instructions for this brain.

Chapter Topics:

• Machine operations and machine language
• Example of machine language
• Different types of processor chips
• High level programming languages
• Language translators (compilers)
• Language interpreters